By Jack BeresfordShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberA dad in Arizona captured the moment he found his three-year-old using his wife’s iPad for something entirely unexpected.
Tyler Pinkerman, from Gilbert, only turned his back on his son for a moment after they got home, but that was more than enough time for the toddler to take advantage.
“My son and I got home and I went to go change my clothes,” Pinkerman told Newsweek. “He saw my wife’s tablet and picked it up off the counter and sat down.”
By the time Pinkerman returned, his son had opened up an app on the tablet and was typing away. He quickly discovered what his three-year-old was up to and decided to share it with the world.
In a video posted to TikTok under the handle @mrpink303, Pinkerman can be seen asking his son “Wait, what is it?” in reference to what the app he is using is.
“Chat BT,” his son replies. The camera pans over to the iPad screen, confirming Pinkerman’s son is using the AI app. “What are you doing?” Pinkerman asks. “Chat BT,” his son replies again, while continuing to type.
His dad asks again “What are you doing?” but gets the same response. Eventually, his son elaborates, telling his dad he is “doing school” on “Chat BT.”
“How old are you?” Pinkerman asks with his son replying “three” as the camera zooms in on his face. Pinkerman posted the clip online because it made him laugh. “It was really just a random video that I thought was funny,” he said.
He also stressed that, while his son was on the app, he used it very briefly with Pinkerman taking the iPad away as soon as he stopped filming.
...The guidelines set out by OpenAI, the company that designed ChatGPT, state ChatGPT is “not meant for children under 13” and anyone child between the age of 13 and 18 should see “parental consent” before using it.
The guidelines state: “We advise caution with exposure to kids, even those who meet our age requirements, and if you are using ChatGPT in the education context for children under 13, the actual interaction with ChatGPT must be conducted by an adult.”
It’s clear that Pinkerman didn’t intend on exposing his son to ChatGPT and that the exposure was both brief and entirely accidental. That hasn’t stopped some from having strong reactions to the video he posted online of the incident.
One user commenting on the TikTok video wrote: “I’m afraid this is not funny,” with another user adding: “that’s kinda frightening.” A third, meanwhile, commented: “This is the most depressing thing ever.”
Of course, plenty of viewers saw the funny side of it all. One such user wrote: “Bro’s younger than ChatGPT” while another said: “I swear, these babies come out knowing how to use all the technology instantly.” Elsewhere, one user joked: “Ask GPT about quantum physics.”
At the time of writing, the video has been watched over 17 million times online. “It has sparked so many differing opinions,” Pinkerman said. “Some think it’s cute, some think it’s dangerous.”
He was keen to stress that while his son has “massively limited screen time” in his day to day life, he has “zero plans to keep him away from technology as he grows up.”
“I would rather him have a good understanding of how to utilize these tools to help him in life,” Pinkerman said. “I don’t see it as a negative at all when it’s in moderation.”
So while ChatGPT isn’t something his son is going to be using right now, Pinkerman knows there will come a day when he will.
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